


Show Me the Meaning

by SailorChibi



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste Needs a Hug, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Identity Reveal, Alya has sources, F/M, Fight me on that, Fluff, Fluff with a Happy Ending, Happy Ending, Identity Reveal, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug Identity Reveal, Marinetter Dupain-Cheng Loves her partner ok, Mild Angst, Secret Identity Reveal, adrien agreste is lonely, and marinette needs to hear it, but this is a world where teenagers jump around in magical suits, consider it a coda of sorts i suppose, please do not question these sources too deeply, so just run with it ok, spoilers for s03e02: were-dad, takes place after the episode, that whole bit about loneliness just killed me, yeah i realize this is impossible
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-10-01 14:46:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17246105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SailorChibi/pseuds/SailorChibi
Summary: Marinette watches the footage of Chat's fight with her akumatized papa and realizes Certain Things about her poor partner after Chat's speech about loneliness.





	Show Me the Meaning

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, the title is from a Backstreet Boys song. Some lines are directly from the episode.

"Marinette! Alya is here to see you!"

The only acknowledgement in the room came from Tikki, who yawned widely as she crawled from Marinette's pillows to beneath the blankets where Alya wouldn't see her. Marinette, who had her eyes firmly shut and her face pressed into the pillow, didn't move. She had twenty-one more minutes to laze around in bed before she had to get up, get dressed and make a mad dash for school. Considering the hectic day she'd had yesterday, she was determined to make the most of those twenty-one minutes - visit from her best friend or no.

Unfortunately, Alya had never been that good at taking a hint. The trap door creaked as it was shoved open and Alya burst into the room with an excited cry of, "Marinette! You have to see this!"

"Marinette's busy," Marinette replied, voice muffled. "Try again in twenty minutes and twelve seconds."

"I can't wait," Alya said, clambering up the steps. She didn't know it, but her knee narrowly avoided squishing Tikki. "You _need_ to see this. It's footage from yesterday's akuma fight!"

"What? How did you get that? The fight was hundreds of feet in the air!" Marinette actually opened her eyes to peer up at her friend in bewilderment.

Alya merely smiled smugly. "A journalist never reveals her sources. Now, watch!" She shoved her phone in front of Marinette's face and turned the volume all the way up. Marinette sighed, rubbed her eyes, and then squinted at the video. A chill ran down her spine when she saw the akuma that her papa had become. It was so _big_ and poor Chat had faced that all by himself. No wonder he'd been so beaten up.

She watched avidly as Chat clambered up the vines, calling out for her. The clear worry in his voice warmed her heart. She couldn't stiffle the worried gasp that slipped out when the akuma leaped out of no where, nearly slicing Chat to bits with one well-aimed vine. Chat dodged just in time, flinging himself to the edge of the vines and pivoting on one foot to face the akuma. 

"I'll always return to save Marinette!" he declared.

Oh. Marinette chewed her lip, barely aware of Alya watching her watch the video. Her heart pounded against her ribs as Chat continued to fight - but then, he wasn't really fighting, was he? She was intimately familiar with how well Chat could fight when he was truly determined, and this wasn't that. No, this was Chat _evading_. He dodged every blow from the akuma as best he could, and took the blows that landed without retaliation. He was trying to avoid hurting the akuma because it was her papa, Marinette realized. She wasn't sure whether she wanted to hug her dumb partner or shake him.

Then Chat said something that shook her to her core.

"And you count on trying to protect Marinette that way your whole life? You can't protect her from what hurts the most. You know what that is? No, of course you don't. What hurts the most is loneliness. Believe me, I know that all about that. _Nothing_ hurts more than loneliness. She'd sit all alone behind a cold meal. Is that what you want for your daughter? A life of cold, lonely meals in her prison of roses?"

"Chat," she breathed, barely listening to the akuma's response. She touched the phone and slid the video back, re-playing that section. He'd trapped the akuma with his baton while he spoke, bringing his face into clear view. He looked so... so _sad_.

How many cold meals had Chat eaten alone?

"Keep watching," Alya said, and Marinette startled. 

"Oh, uh, sure," Marinette mumbled. She kind of wished she'd stopped the video altogether when she saw just how close the akuma got to removing Chat's ring. Her kitty had been incredibly lucky that she'd grabbed the rose when she had. She watched as the vines collapsed, sending Chat and her papa plummeting. 

"That's my favorite part!" Alya said suddenly, jabbing a finger at the screen. "Look!"

Ladybug came sailing into the screen. Marinette breathed a sigh of relief that whoever had been filming this, however they'd been filming it, hadn't aimed the camera higher, or else they might have caught Marinette on film transforming. The rest of the fight proceeded exactly the way she remembered, ending when the three of them touched down on the ground. It ended there, but not in Marinette's memory. Remembering the way Chat had collapsed in her arms caused a new resurgence of worry; thank god she'd been able to cast the miraculous cure right away. He'd been more beaten up than she could've guessed.

"I just wish I knew where Ladybug came from. They were so high up," Alya said, taking the phone and re-watching the part where Ladybug came on screen.

"Um, I don't know. I just know that I was falling and she grabbed me and set me down on my balcony," Marinette lied, sitting back on her heels. "Then she was gone, before I even had the chance to realize what had happened."

Alya sighed. "I thought that might be the case. Darn. Though I really am glad you were okay." She leaned over to hug Marinette, who smiled and hugged her friend back.

But inwardly, she was dwelling on the footage and what it meant for her partner. Though they made it a point not to discuss their personal lives, Chat had made comments here and there over the years that made her think his homelife was far from ideal. She'd never brought it up, mostly because she was positive that Chat wasn't doing it on purpose. It was just like when Ladybug forgot herself and made a remark about her maman or papa. They couldn't examine every single word that came out of their mouths, particularly in the heat of battle.

He'd never mentioned his mother, so most of his comments were about his father and suggested that Chat didn't see him much. Then there was what he'd said at dinner yesterday, how that was the warmest he'd felt during dinner for a long time. Maybe ever. That remark had stung then, and it hurt now. Especially considering what Alya had just shown her. Chat was lonely. Really lonely. Lonely enough that it was the worst thing he'd ever suffered from. Mind you, this was coming from a boy who regularly dealt with being thrown into walls, dropped from great heights, and smacked around, all of which still hurt in the moment even with the super suit to protect them.

Her poor kitty. 

"Hey, we're gonna be late," Alya said, poking Marinette in the ribs. "You better get dressed."

"Yeah, right," Marinette said absently. She crawled out of bed and got dressed. It wasn't easy to hold a conversation when your mind was a million miles away, but she managed enough to keep Alya from getting too suspicious.

Going to school was kind of useless, because Marinette didn't learn a thing all day. It seemed like every time she blinked, another stray comment of Chat's would come back to her. She couldn't believe she'd been so blind. But this was Chat she was thinking about. He was silly and courageous and joked around and flirted. It was hard to see past that exterior to the lonely boy underneath. Now that she had, she couldn't forget about it and she was consumed with a need to do something about it.

The question was, what?

A plan slowly formed and by the end of the day, Marinette was decided. She didn't talk to Tikki about it, knowing that her kwami would never agree. She spent a pleasant dinner with her parents and then gathered up the macarons that hadn't sold that day. Chat's favorite flavors were almond and strawberry, but she had the feeling he wouldn't say no to anything that had been made with love. She brought the box upstairs to her bedroom and transformed. One quick jump up onto her bed and then she was out the window and on her balcony. She opened up her yoyo and called Chat. He didn't answer, but that wasn't unusual. She knew he'd call back.

Sure enough, within five minutes, her yoyo beeped and Ladybug smiled. "Hi _Chaton_."

"You called, My Lady?"

"I have something for you. Could you meet me at the Eiffel Tower?" Ladybug asked.

"Uh... sure?" He sounded confused, but agreeable, and Ladybug's smiled broadened. She ended the call and stood, leaping off her balcony. 

Chat made it to the tower first. He was waiting in their favorite spot, leaning against a beam and watching the city. Ladybug landed beside him and recoiled her yoyo with a flick of her wrist. She wasn't going to stay long, so she'd need it shortly. She held the box out to Chat.

"This is for you."

"What is it?" Chat asked, taking it regardless. He opened the lid and his eyebrows rose. "Macarons?"

"Well, that's why you came to dinner last night, wasn't it?" Ladybug said. She was nervous now. "It didn't seem fair that you never got to have any."

Chat was quiet for a long moment. "... What?"

"Alya showed me the footage of your fight with my papa," Ladybug said bluntly, turning to look at him. "First of all, I don’t ever want to see you taking damage like that again. The akumatized victims are always healed and don’t even remember what happened after. Don’t worry about hurting them. Worry about yourself.”

He just stared at her.

“Second of all, you don't have to be lonely anymore, Chat. You are always welcome to come have dinner with me and my parents, okay?"

His mouth hung open. "M-Marinette?!" he squeaked.

"Yeah, it's me. Tikki's gonna kill me, but this was something I had to do." She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. "So... so don't be lonely. You have me. You'll always have me; even if it's not the way you want me, I'm your friend. Your partner. And you deserve all the warm dinners in the world."

She left him there, sputtering with shock, and used her yoyo to make her way back home. Her heart was thudding with nerves, yet she also felt a sense of peace. She'd been trying to hide her identity from Chat for so long for a variety of reasons. It felt like a weight had rolled off her back. She didn't even care that she didn't know who he was; she didn't need to know. He was Chat, and he'd told Marinette that she was amazing, when really he was the amazing one.

Ladybug dropped down onto her bed and de-transformed. Before Tikki could say a word, Marinette lifted a hand and said, "I know. I did think about extending the invitation as me, but he wouldn't have taken me up on it. It would've been too awkward. And I would've spent all my time either being too familiar with him, or panicking about trying to keep everything a secret. It's just easier this way."

Tikki sighed. "I'm not happy. I understand why you did it, but you've put yourself in danger now."

"I don't care. Chat _needs_ me, Tikki. He's my partner. He deserves to know he's loved." Marinette met her kwami's gaze evenly. 

"You should've told me first," Tikki said.

"I thought you'd stop me."

"I would have." Tikki shook her head. "You owe me a lot of cookies to make up for this."

Marinette cracked a smile. "I saved you a couple macarons."

The next morning, she told her parents they'd probably have a visitor for dinner and went to school with a smile. If she'd been paying attention, she would've noticed Adrien staring at her with a look of wonder on his face all day. As it was, she was preoccupied with how excited Alya was over how well the footage was doing on the Ladyblog. Seemed like Chat had a lot of fans who very concerned about how beaten up he'd been by the end of the fight. Alya was doing her best to respond to them, but there wasn't much she could say. Marinette quickly decided that Ladybug and Chat would have to take a trip around the city tonight after dinner, just to put some fears to rest.

When she got home, she did her homework and did a little work on her sketches. The doorbell rang at half past six. Marinette swallowed hard and jumped to her feet, flying down the steps. Her maman laughed at her eagerness, but stood aside to let her open the door. 

"Hi Marinette."

"A-Adrien?" Marinette said, dumbfounded. "What... what are you doing here?"

He swallowed, rubbing at the back of his neck. "You, uh, you said I could come to dinner anytime, right? Last night?" His eyes were very intent and very green. 

"Oh," Marinette whispered. Okay. She hadn't expected that. Not even a little bit. But in retrospect, it was making a lot of sense.

"I can go," Adrien began, and she snapped out of it.

"No! You came for dinner and you're staying for dinner. Come in." She stepped aside to let him enter, and screamed silently to herself while she closed the door. By the time she turned around again, her face was composed.

"I would've brought you a rose, but I figured you were tired of them," Adrien said.

Marinette smiled faintly. "That would be correct."

"I loved the macarons, though. Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Adrien turned to face her. "I'm glad you're my friend," he said seriously. 

Oh, right. She reached out and patted his hand. "We'll talk about that later," she whispered, guiding him into the kitchen. Adrien seemed confused, but went along willingly to be greeted warmly by her parents. Marinette stood back and watched as her maman hugged her partner. Yeah, she could get used to do this.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know how Alya got the footage either. Chalk it up to magic.
> 
> Find me on [tumblr](http://tsuki-chibi.tumblr.com/).


End file.
